diff --git a/hack/testdata/multi-resource.yaml b/hack/testdata/multi-resource.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7acb111c78d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/testdata/multi-resource.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Tests that initial failures to not block subsequent applies.
+# Pod must be before namespace, so it initially fails. Second
+# apply of pod should succeed, since namespace finally exists.
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Pod
+metadata:
+  name: test-pod
+  namespace: multi-resource-ns
+  labels:
+    name: test-pod-label
+spec:
+  containers:
+  - name: kubernetes-pause
+    image: k8s.gcr.io/pause:2.0
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Namespace
+metadata:
+  name: multi-resource-ns
diff --git a/test/cmd/apply.sh b/test/cmd/apply.sh
index 0181b8e3c7e..f9d5f8d8040 100755
--- a/test/cmd/apply.sh
+++ b/test/cmd/apply.sh
@@ -274,6 +274,19 @@ __EOF__
   # cleanup
   kubectl delete --kustomize hack/testdata/kustomize
 
+  ## kubectl apply multiple resources with initial failure.
+  # Pre-Condition: no POD exists
+  kube::test::get_object_assert pods "{{range.items}}{{${id_field:?}}}:{{end}}" ''
+  # First pass, namespace is created, but pod is not (since namespace does not exist yet).
+  kubectl apply -f hack/testdata/multi-resource.yaml "${kube_flags[@]:?}"
+  output_message=$(! kubectl get pods test-pod 2>&1 "${kube_flags[@]:?}")
+  kube::test::if_has_string "${output_message}" 'pods "test-pod" not found'
+  # Second pass, pod is created (now that namespace exists).
+  kubectl apply -f hack/testdata/multi-resource.yaml "${kube_flags[@]:?}"
+  kube::test::get_object_assert 'pod test-pod' "{{${id_field}}}" 'test-pod'
+  # cleanup
+  kubectl delete -f hack/testdata/multi-resource.yaml
+
   set +o nounset
   set +o errexit
 }